Means of escaping from aeroplanes.



B.. D. CARVER.

MEANS OF ESCAPING FROM AERGPLANES.

APPLICATION FILED AUG.8| I913.

Patented Nov. 19, 1918 2 SHEETS-SHEET lw A I l 7 )S//// wvemtca, Emu/5R.

B. D. CARVER;

MEANS OF hSCAPING FROEAEROPLANES.

APPLICATION FILED A'UGJL 191B.

Patented Nov. 19, 1918.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

BEN D. CARVER, OF NEWTON, TEXAS.

MEANS OF ESGAPIN G FROM AEROPLANES.

ecificaflon of matters Patent.

Application filed August 8, 1918. Serial No. 248,944.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, BEN D. CARVER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Newton, in the county. of Newton and State of Texas, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Means for Escaping from Aeroplanes; and lowing to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make'and use the same.

This invention relates to means for escaping from aeroplanes, and more particularly to means whereby an aviator may readily escape from an aeroplane in the. event that he is in imminent danger of capture or the aeroplane takes fire. 7

One of the main objects of the invention is to provide simple and eficient means which may be readily applied to an aeroplane of substantially standard construction whereby an aviator may readily release himself from the usual retaining straps and escape from the aeroplane, a parachute being so positioned as to be readily grasped by the aviator so as to permit him to descend safely to the ground.

A further object is to provide a fuselage structure in which a trap or door is rovided, this door' being normally hel in raised position and constituting the bottom or floor of the fuselage, releasing means being furnished whereby the door may be readily released so as to drop intoopen position and. .permit the aviator to pass through the opening thus provided.

Another object is to provide a seat of folding construction which is normally held in raised or operative position by the door but is collapsed simultaneously with opening of the door so as to direct the aviator through the door opening.

A still further object is to provide simple and efiicient means controlled by the seat for releasing the aviator from the usual retaining straps simultaneously with collapsing or folding of the seat.

Further objects will appear from the detailed description.

In the drawings.

Fi re 1 is a sectional view taken through the orward portion of the fuselage of an aeroplane with an escape means constructed in accordance with my invention applied.

Fig. 2 is a section taken substantially on line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

I do hereby declare the folin the front wall of the pit,

Fig. 3 is a section taken on line 3-3 of Fig. 1.

F 1g. 4 is a central sectional view taken through the seat and associated parts.

Fig. 5 is a section taken substantially on line 55 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 6 is a section taken substantially on line 6-6 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 7 is a section Fig. 3.

Fig. 8 is a section through the bag or contamer for the parachute and through the parachute.

Fig. 9 is a front view of the parachute container and associated parts.

I have illustrated my invention as applied to an aeroplane designated generally by A of the biplane type, though it will be understood. that it may be equally well applied to an aeroplane of any other type. In applying my invention, the fuselage B is provided with a plt designated generally by C having the front wall 1, rear wall 2, and side walls 3. with an opening through its bottom or floor and extending substantially the full area thereof, this openmg being normally closed by a trap or door 4 which is hingedly secured to the floor 5 of the fuselage by suitable hinges 6 for vertical movement. Upward movement of this door is positively limited by stop strips 7 which extend about the door opening and project inwardly beyond the periphery thereof. The door is normally held in raised position by the locking fingers 8 carried by hook memhere 9 formed at each end of a horizontal shaft 10 which is rockably mounted in supporting brackets 11 secured on the outer face of front wall 1. This shaft is provided with an upwardly projecting arm 12 secured thereto, the upper end of which is pivotally secured, as at 13, to the lower end of a lever 14 rockably mounted intermediate its ends on a bracket 15 secured on the front face of wall 1. The upper end of this lever is connected by a link 16 to the lower-endcf a releasing lever 17 pivoted intermediate its ends on a bracket 18 carried by wall 1. This releasing lever 17 extends through a slot 19 and is provided adjacent its upper end with a detent 20 adapted to engage into the notch of a locking bar 21 secured on the inner face of front wall 1. The lever is so positioned as to be readily grasped by an aviator within the it so as to be rocked downwardly and inwardly taken on line 7-7 of Patented Nov. 19, 1918. r

. end, as at 32, to

thus rocking shaft 10 in such direction as to disengage the fingers 8 of crank 9 from beneath the doors so as to permit this door to swing freely downwardly about its hinge axis.

A seat or benchdesignated generally by 22 is mounted in the pit 3 adjacent bac wall 2 thereof. This bench comprises a front board 23 and a seat board 24:. Seat board 24: is hingedly secured at its rearward edge tObackwall 2 by hinges 25, and front board 23 is hingedly secured to the seat board at its" upper edge by hinges 26. The lower edge portion of the front board engages between spaced blocks 27 carried on the upper face of door 4:, these blocks acting to hold the seat in operative position when the door is raised. The aviator, in practice, sits upon the seat board 24, and is held in position by a waist'strap 28 which is passed about his waist, a crotch strap 29 being secured to this waist strap and forming a continuation thereof. The waist strap is pro vided with a loop 30 at each'end which fits into a recess formed in back wall 2,'this loop being inserted over a res1li'ent securing bar 31 which is pivotally secured at". its upper back'wall 2, the lower free end of this bar being adapted to fit into a cooperating recessprovided in the rearward edge of seat board 24c, as at 32 The crotch strap 29 is provided with a loop 34 at its lower end; which fits about the inner end of a securing bar 35 whichentends transversely of the seat board 2 at-tlre central portion thereof, the seat board being provided with a recess contiguous to the recess for the bar 35 for receiving the' loop of this stra Bar 35 is provided at its outer-or rearward end with an integral vertically disposed finger 36 which engages the back wall 2 of the pit so as to efiectually prevent upward movement of this hr, the bar being pivotally mounted at its angle on a 13 supporting bracket 37 carried by seat board 24:. When the door 4 is in, raised position, the straps 28 and 29 will act to hold the aviator securely on the seat 22 inthe well known manner. When the door is released, it will swing downwardly about its hinge axis so as to release the front board 23 of the seat thus causing the seat to collapse under the weight of the aviator, the boards 23 and 24: of the seat or bench being movedinto substantial alinernent so as to form an inclined surface which will serve to direct the aviator through the door opening. The weight of the aviator servesto pull the waist strap 28 from beneath the members 31, the loop 34 of the crotch strap 29 being moved over the free end of bar 35.-- The aviator is thus released so as to permit him to fall freely through the door opening.

A fabric bag or container 39 is releasably supported above the seat 22 by suitable supily grasped board 24: of the seat, adjacent the rearward edge thereof, as in Fig. 9. This stafi' of the parachute is so positioned as to be readopening. of he door 4:. Thelower end of bag or container 39 is gathered and normally heldi'n closed position by a cord 43. A. cutting device designated generally by 44 is mounted on the lower end of the bag for a this cord. This device comprises two blades to and it which are pivoted together at their lower ends and secured to the bag 39. A short cable a7 is secured to the upper end of blade 45, as at 4:8, and is passed overa pulley i9 secured by a supporting member to the upper end of blade 46. This cable is then led through eyes 50 carried by the bag and has its other end secured to a cleat 51 secured on back wall 2 of the pit. Before releasing door a, the aviator places the stafie2 of the parachute in front of him and grasps it firmly so that when the door is released and he passes-through'the door opening theparachute-and the bag 39" will also pass through the opening so as to tension cable 47 and operate the cutting device 44 to sever the cord 43 thus releasing the parachute and permitting it to be drawn from the bag, after which the parachute will open and operate in the well known manner to permit the aviator to descend safely to the ground. As will be noted, the cable 47 is provided with a stop member or knot 50' adjacent the lower eye 50. After the cord as has been severed, the container 39 is folded upwardly so as to bring this knot into engagement with the upper eye 50 thus withdrawing the container from the parachute and insuring proper removal thereof. This renders it possible for an aviator who sees that he is in imminent danger of capture, or that his machine is afire, to readily escape and descend safely to the ground.

It will be evident that there may be slight changes made in the construction and arrangement of the details of my invention without departing from the field and scope of the same, and I intend to include all such variations, as fall within the scope of the appended claims, in this application in which a preferred form only of'my invention is disclosed.

What I claim is: v

l. The comb'nation with an aeroplane including a pit provided with an opening through its door, of a door adapted to close said opening and hingedly secured to the floor of the pit for movement toward and by the aviator preliminary to securing said door securing said door in lapsible seat supported by said door so as away from the same, means for releasably securing said door 'in raised position,'and a collapsible seat secured to the wall of the pit and connected to said door so as to be normally held in operative position there by and to be collapsed when the door is lowered so as to discharge an aviator seated thereon through the door opening.

2. The combination with an aeroplane structure includin a pit having a door opening through its floor, of a door for closing said opening hingedly secured to the' floor of the pit for movement toward and away from the same, means for releasably in raised position, a collapsible seat supported by said door so as to be normally held thereby in operative position and to be collapsed when the door is released, and means controlled by said seat for releasably securing straps thereto so as to hold an aviator upon the seat, said means being adapted to release the straps when the seat is collapsed so as to permit the aviator to pass through the door opening;

3. The combination with an aeroplane structure including a pit having a door opening through its door, of a door for closing said opening hingedlysecured to the door of the pit for movement'toward and away from the same, means for releasably raised position, a colto be-normally held thereby in operativeposition and to be collapsed when the door is reld, means controlled by said seat for releasably securing straps thereto so as to hold an. aviator upon the seat, said'meaus being adapted to release the straps when is collapsed so as to permit the the seat aviator to pass through the door opening, and means for supporting a parachutevin position to be readily grasped by an aviator seated upon said seat.

4:, The combination with an aeroplane structure including a pit provided with a door opening through its hingedly secured to the floor of the pit for movement toward and away from the same and adapted to close said openingwhen in raised position,-means for releasably securing said doorin raised position, a collapsihle seat normally supported by the door raised position, a seat floor, of a door 5. The combination with an aeroplane structure including a pit provided with an o enin throu hits floor, of adoor hin edl P g g g g secured to the floor of the pit and adapte to close the same when in raised position, means for releasably securing said door in said pit and including front and seat boards hingedly secured together, the seat board vbeing hinged at its rearward edge to the rearward wall of the pit and the front board being releasably secured to the door so as to be normally held in vertical position thereby, vertical securing bars secured at their upper ends to the rear wall of the pit and having their lower ends fitting into recesses formed in the rearward edge of the seat board so as to be held against inward movement thereby, and a securin bar extending transversely of the seat board and pivotally mounted adjacent its rearward end upon the same, said bar being held against upward'movement beyond the horizontal, said vertically disposed bars and the horizontally disposed bar being adapted to re-- ceive the loops of securing straps for bolding an aviator upon the seat while permitting release of said straps upon downward movement of the door and collapsing of the seat so as to permit the-aviator to pass through the door opening.

In testimon whereof I afiix my signature in presence 0 a witness.

BEN D. CARVER. Witness:

Bnnmi'rr S. JoNEs.

aviator upon said container when moved positioned within a 

